suited and booted
1
6.3
- idiom
- UK
- Everyone arrived suited and booted for the formal dinner party.
Examples
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Let's get you two suited and booted.
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Where's he going this time of night all suited and booted?
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They are all suited and booted.
Blog text (32) -
For the wedding, he was suited and booted in a sharp tuxedo.
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After getting suited and booted for the gala, she felt confident and ready to shine.
Synonyms
50
2.4
Wearing neat, clean clothes that look smart, like a suit or nice shirt
49
3.5
Wearing clothes made for a certain job or event
46
2.7
Wearing special formal clothes for a party or event
13
3.6
Suitable for formal events like a wedding or party
8
5.4
Wearing special or formal clothes
4
7.6
Wearing very elegant formal clothes for a special occasion
4
4.1
Dressed neatly and looking smart for a special event
4
5.6
Wearing smart, attractive clothes so other people notice you
1
4.6
Neat and attractive, often dressed or decorated for a special occasion
1
6.8
Wearing very attractive, stylish clothes to get people's attention
1
8.2
To wear nice clothes for a special event
1
7.8
Wearing stylish, elegant clothes
1
9.1
Wearing smart clothes for a special event
Antonyms
How Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The overall sense 'dressed smartly/formally' is largely derivable from the constituents: 'suited' (wearing a suit) and 'booted' (wearing boots), so a learner who knows those words can infer someone is dressed up. However, the phrase is a fixed colloquial collocation and the contribution of 'booted' to formality is not fully predictable, so the expression's nuance and register may not be immediately clear to a B1 learner without exposure.
Etymology
Suited and booted comes from the simple image of someone wearing a smart suit and polished boots, a complete outfit that shows they are ready to go. So the phrase now means 'dressed smartly' or 'ready for a special event'.